Martha Bissah is the first freshman to be named one of NSU’s top athletes since bowler Thea Aspiras in 2011.

A freshman from Accra, Ghana, Bissah burst onto the scene with a memorable freshman track season.

She won four gold medals to earn Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete at the MEAC Indoor Championship in February.

She won the 800, mile and 3,03,000-meter events at the indoor championship and also ran a leg on NSU’s winning distance medley relay team.

Bissah has continued that success during the outdoor season, as she is currently in qualifying position for the NCAA East Preliminary Round in the 800 meters.

She is the MEAC’s top-ranked runner in both the 800 and 1,500 meters thus far.

Source: Graphic Online

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2017/04/19/freshman-martha-bissah-named-nsu-athlete-of-the-year/feed/0Martha Bissah emerges Most Outstanding Athlete after winning two gold medalshttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2017/02/20/martha-bissah-emerges-most-outstanding-athlete-after-winning-two-gold-medals/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2017/02/20/martha-bissah-emerges-most-outstanding-athlete-after-winning-two-gold-medals/#respondMon, 20 Feb 2017 13:37:30 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=66456Freshman Martha Bissah earned Most Outstanding Track Athlete honors at the MEAC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, winning two more gold medals to go with two from earlier in the week as the Spartan women placed fourth at the meet on Saturday.

The Spartans finished the meet with 72 points. North Carolina A&T won with 145, Florida A&M was second with 94 and Hampton was third with 73.5.

Bissah pulled away for victories in the mile (4:53.48) and 3,000 meters (10:13.70) on Saturday. She also ran the anchor leg on the Spartans’ fourth-place 4×400 meter relay team that won its heat. On Friday, Bissah won the 800 meters and ran anchor on the winning medley relay team.

Bissah is the first NSU female to earn outstanding runner honors at a MEAC indoor meet since All-American sprinter Debbie Dunn in 1999.

Also on Saturday, junior Tasia Baxter placed fourth in the pole vault with a top clearance on 10 feet, 8 inches and sophomore Taejah Robertson earned fifth place in the 60-meter hurdles in a personal-best time of 8.60 seconds.

The Spartans have a month off before opening the outdoor track season at William & Mary on March 17.

Youth Olympic gold medallist, Martha Bissah, has been suspended indefinitely by the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) for indiscipline and bringing the name of the association into disrepute.

According to the General Secretary of the GAA, Phillipina Frimpong, Martha’s suspension letter was drafted on May 23 but she has since been evasive and refused to receive the document anytime officials of the GAA try to serve her.

The suspension bars Martha from competing in GAA-sanctioned events, as well as represent the nation at any international athletics competition.

It comes in the wake of over a year of media rows involving the Executive Board of the athletics federation led by its president, Professor Francis Dodoo, and the athlete’s camp which is comprised of her guardian, Mikki Osei Berko and his close confidantes, George Lutterodt and Kweku Nimako.

The development marks a stunning fall from grace for the 18-year-old who has struggled to reproduce her gold-medal winning feat at the 2014 Youth Olympics Games in Nanjing, China, where she completed the 800 metres race in a time of 2:04.90 minutes even though she has since competed on poor tracks including grass and cinder.

A state-sponsored athletic scholarship offered her by President John Mahama to study and develop her sporting abilities in the United States has also remained elusive.

The source disclosed that Martha drew the ire of the GAA executive Board for consistently absenting herself from scheduled welfare meetings.

“She had avoided meetings with the GAA but at the last Circuit Championships which took place at El-Wak, the GAA Executive Board once again reached out to her but she left the venue without speaking to them,” Phillipina stated.

“After several back and forths involving the GAA and her guardian, Mr Berko finally granted the GAA audience with Martha. She came to the meeting with her brother and Mr Nimako who the association does not recognise as a representative of the athlete”.

“When Mr. Nimako was asked to leave the meeting, Martha said she cannot participate in the meeting without him so she followed him out. That was when the decision was taken to suspend her indefinitely although she has since refused to accept her suspension letter on countless occasions,” she added.

Martha’s guardian, Mr Berko said he was not aware of the suspension of his ward urging the GAA to be more merciful and professional with the youngster.

Meanwhile, Mr George Haldane Lutterodt, one of the benefactors of Martha Bissah, has vowed to go to court to overturn the decision of the GAA.

He stated that the GAA could not act as a law to itself and, therefore, called on the Youth and Sports Minister, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, to call the association to order.

Mr Lutterodt, who described the GAA’s decision as reckless, vindictive and witch-hunting, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that it was born out of hatred for the young girl who spoke her mind about the ill-treatment being meted out to her by the GAA.

“This is illegal; the due process was not followed and we don’t suspend an athlete indefinitely,” an angry Lutteordt noted.

According to him, the action taken by the GAA smacked of victimisation, since Martha was neither forewarned nor given a hearing.

The former chairman of the GAA stated that the reasons given by the GAA for Martha’s suspension were untenable.

The GAA on May 23 suspended Martha Bissau on grounds of disrespect, not honouring an invitation and bringing the name of the association into disrepute.

Source: Graphic

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2016/06/02/gaa-suspends-martha-bissah/feed/0QUAO’s Monday Moanings: Bissah for All Africa Games, Barclays Premier League fiesta, King Usainhttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/24/quaos-monday-moanings-bissah-for-all-africa-games-barclays-premier-league-fiesta-king-usain/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/24/quaos-monday-moanings-bissah-for-all-africa-games-barclays-premier-league-fiesta-king-usain/#respondMon, 24 Aug 2015 12:39:16 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=48078Citi Sports’ Nathan Quaoreturns with his weekly column and this week, he looks at the shocking decision of the Sports Minister to include Martha Bissah in Ghana’s All Africa Games team, Chelsea and Manchester City’s wins in the Barclays Premier League and Usain Bolt’s capture of the 100m at the World Championships.

Sports Minister turns selector

On Sunday, it emerged that Sports Minister Dr. Mustapha Ahmed had decided to give young athlete Martha Bissah a place on Ghana’s team to the All Africa Games in Congo in September.

The athlete failed to qualify for the All Africa Games because she did not meed the qualification mark of 2:04.00.

She ran times of 2:08 and 2:11 at the GAA qualifiers.

Martha Bissah (number 243)

What is the Minister’s reason?

Sources at the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) say he wants to reward Bissah for her hardwork in the sport.

I found the news very disturbing because at the very first level, it is a very simple case of interference.

The GAA has the mandate to put teams together for the All Africa Games based on whether the athletes met the qualifying marks.

The Sports Minister area of work does not include picking athletes for events and that point must be made very clear.

Even if the Minister wants to reward Martha, a place in Ghana’s team for the event is totally off the mark. Those places are reserved for those who earned it by working hard on the track.

If Bissah has any intentions of going to Congo, it should only be granted because she either made it by running or she is attached to the team.

I learned that the GAA would state their position on the matter in coming days. I would love to hear what they have to tell us but I do not expect them to keep mute on the Minister’s move.

They must insist that the right things are done.

Chelsea grab first win, Man City keep the tempo

Aleksandar Kolarov fired Manchester City in front in the second half (Image credit: premierleague.com)

After losing at the Etihad last weekend, Chelsea had to find a way of getting back to win and they found victory at the Hawthorns thanks to Pedro, their new boy.

I must admit that the buzz of signing the former Barcelona winger was very evident. The passes were sharper and the forward play was very good.

The speed of the counter attack was even more delightful to me. I get the sense Chelsea will go down this road a lot of times this season and Pedro will be very key to that style of play.

But their defence needs some more work.

Is it time to phase John Terry out of the team? Is Kurt Zouma the one to pair with Cahill? Will Ivanovic be benched for some time and will Baba Rahman get his chance?

Those are questions for Mourinho to answer. He must be swift in making some of these important calls else Manchester City will be in a very good position hamper the Londoners’ chances of defending their title.

Talking about Manchester City, they were solid at Everton.

I was of the opinion that they recognised that they were away from home so they were slightly cautious but they got the win nonetheless.

Everton were positive and they get some marks from me for that decision but the Citizens were clinical on a day they recorded their 9th straight win to set a club record.

They had 12 shots with 9 of those being on target as compared to Everton’s 6 shots (1 on target).

They now have 9 points from 3 matches and they will want to pick up about 15 points from their first five matches just to give them comfort ahead of the challenging periods.

Usain bolts down another 100m title

Usain Bolt (Image credit: EPA)

Another 100m final in the World Championships. Another 100m title for Usain Bolt.

But this one might be the most important he has ever won. Not because of the time or the venue but it was because of the context.

The sport of athletics seemed to be relying on Bolt to win to ‘save’ it after several cases of doping emerged in the last few months.

The Jamaican duly delivered but he said it was for him.

That was also true because this was another test of his ability. American Justin Gatlin had won 28 consecutive races coming into the final and there was talk on how much he could upset Bolt.

So, the Jamaican had to really run for his career.

In the end, the race was decided by a tiny detail: 0.01 seconds.

I was pleased with the outcome not because I like Bolt but I thought of how the narrative would read: a final won by an athlete who had cheated sometime back with drugs.

The two men will contest the 200m event during the week but it is fair to say that Bolt has given Gatlin a lot to think about.

Special mentions to Lewis Hamilton for winning the Belgian Grand Prix, Ryad Mahrez for scoring his fourth goal for Leicester City in the Barclays Premier League (for giving me Fantasy League points) and to Serge Gnabry for pulling off a wonderful Marseille Roulette against Cesc Fabregas. Watch video below!!!

Have a great sporting week, folks.

Follow me on Twitter @nathan_quao

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/24/quaos-monday-moanings-bissah-for-all-africa-games-barclays-premier-league-fiesta-king-usain/feed/0Martha’s AAG inclusion is a reward – Sports Ministerhttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/24/marthas-aag-inclusion-is-a-reward-sports-minister/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/24/marthas-aag-inclusion-is-a-reward-sports-minister/#respondMon, 24 Aug 2015 12:04:16 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=48079An executive committee member of the Ghana Athletics Association Dr Mark Dzradosi has disclosed that the State’s sense of indebtedness to Martha Bissah is the reason behind the Sport’s Minister, Ahmed Mustapha’s decision to unilaterally pick the 800m sprinter for the All African Games regardless of her inability to make the required time of 2m 04s.

Mr. Selector: Sports Minister, Dr. Mustapha Ahmed

The decision to elect Bissah means that the Minister has ignored 19 year old Agnes Abu who is the nation’s top ranked 800m sprinter this year after she recorded a season’s best time of 2m 06s.

Background

Martha Bissah rose to prominence in 2014 following her exploits at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing in the 800m which earned Ghana its first ever Gold medal at any level.
A whirlwind of activities including severing ties with her mentor and long time coach Nii Odartey Lamptey has coincided with a dip in her form in the current athletics season.

Her disappointing form this year has seen her record times of 2m 08s and 2m 11s after being handed a lifeline by the Ghana Athletics Association along with other athletes who had recorded impressive times but narrowly missed the mark.

Dr Dzradosi opined that his initial interaction with the Minister indicated that the decision had been taken to show appreciation to Martha for raising high the flag of Ghana.

“From what I gather from the Minister the nation wants to send her to Congo as a way of rewarding her for what she did,that is her contribution to athletics from last year.

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/24/marthas-aag-inclusion-is-a-reward-sports-minister/feed/0Sports Minister selects Martha Bissah for All Africa Gameshttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/23/sports-minister-selects-martha-bissah-for-all-africa-games-despite-failure-to-meet-qualification-time/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/23/sports-minister-selects-martha-bissah-for-all-africa-games-despite-failure-to-meet-qualification-time/#respondSun, 23 Aug 2015 11:39:42 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=48002In what can best be described as a direct interference in the affairs of the Ghana Athletics Association, the Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Mustapha Ahmed has single handedly selected 800m runner Martha Bissah to participate in the upcoming All Africa Games in Congo-Brazzaville despite not meeting the qualification standard.

Bissah has been registered by Ghana for the Games with Athlete no: 0002726.

NAME

CATEGORY

NO.

MARTHA BISSAH

ATHLETICS

0002726

In selecting Bissah, the Minister has overlooked the nation’s top ranked women’s 800m runner Agnes Abu who has run season’s best 2.06.27m, but has yet to qualify for the Games having failed to run the required A-standard mark of 2:01.6m and B-standard mark of 2:04.2m.

Bissah failed to qualify for the Games after recording 2:11.84 min at the just ended GAA Special All Africa Games qualifier at the El Wak stadium last Friday.

Bissah had run a season’s best 2.08.27m on 18-July going into the special competition at the El Wak stadium and needed to run at least the B-standard time of 2:04.6 to qualify.

At the same GAA competition at the El Wak stadium, African javelin silver medalist Mary Zuta Narteh, who was yet to qualify for the Games, booked her place in Congo-Brazzaville after throwing a season’s best 50.65m.

Zuta’s new mark is an automatic qualifier for the Congo-Brazzaville Games as the Ghana Athletics Association’s A-standard for the javelin stands at 49.58m.

Zuta, who is also the reigning overall women’s National Circuit Champion, had thrown a season’s best 46m going into the competition and is now a sure bet for the 50th African Games.

No consultation with GAA

In taking the decision, the Minister of Youth and Sports did not consult the Ghana Athletics Association whose President is currently at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.

The GAA is considering its response to the latest development which could have dire consequences for the sport as the IAAF strongly frowns upon government interference in the affairs of its affiliate associations.

It will be recalled that the Ghana Olympic Committee was banned by the International Olympic Committee over government interference.

It remains to be seen what action the Ghana Athletics Association will take over this untimely decision by the Minister of Youth and Sports.

Background to the GAA’s Selection Criteria

Consistent with its aim of providing fair and transparent selection standards for the national team, the Ghana Athletics Association has been releasing its selection criteria for major international competitions since 2010.

The criteria set out the entry standards (both A and B) athletes have to meet before consideration for national assignments.

In January 2015, the qualification standards were released for this year’s the 2015 All African Games and World Championships.

This was the 5th time that the Prof. Francis Dodoo led GAA had released its selection criteria at the beginning of the athletics season.

Hitherto, selection for the national team was done by the Chief Athletics Coach and his technical team.

By: Erasmus Kwaw/Ghana Athletics Association

Erasmus is in Beijing, China for the IAAF World Athletics Championships by kind courtesy of Ethiopian Airlines

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/23/sports-minister-selects-martha-bissah-for-all-africa-games-despite-failure-to-meet-qualification-time/feed/0Martha Bissah fails to make grade for All African Gameshttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/21/martha-bissah-fails-to-make-grade-for-all-african-games/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/21/martha-bissah-fails-to-make-grade-for-all-african-games/#respondFri, 21 Aug 2015 15:05:57 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=47943Youth Olympic Gold medalist Martha Bissah has failed to make the final list for the All African Games in Congo despite being handed a second opportunity by the Ghana Athletics Association.

Bissah was part of a number of athletes handed a second chance in a special event organized by the GAA in an attempt to hand athletes who missed the qualifying mark marginally.

Despite her promising exploits in the past Martha has failed in the current athletics calendar to reach the required time of 2m 04s,instead her best time recorded this year has been 2m 08s.

At the special event which was held at El Wak Sports Stadium on August 21,2015 Martha’s performance declined even further running a time of 2m 11s which means that she was some way off the time required.

Ghana have been handed 25 slots for the various athletics disciplines but have currently managed to fill only 20 of those slots.

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/21/martha-bissah-fails-to-make-grade-for-all-african-games/feed/0Martha Bissah and others handed lifeline ahead of All African Gameshttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/13/martha-bissah-and-others-handed-lifeline-ahead-of-all-african-games/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/13/martha-bissah-and-others-handed-lifeline-ahead-of-all-african-games/#respondThu, 13 Aug 2015 10:35:25 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=47478The Ghana Athletics Association has confirmed that Youth Olympic Gold Medallist Martha Bissah is still in with a chance of making it to the All African Games and the World Athletics Championships following earlier reports that she was set to miss both competitions after failing to attain the required time.

Background

Martha currently runs in the 800 and 1500m events and despite her promising exploits in the past failed to reach the benchmark of 2m 04s set by the GAA as at December 31 2014.

Her best time recorded this year after the final selection stands at 2m 08s which pales in comparison to the 2m 04s she recorded to pick up the Youth Olympic medal in Nanjin.

In the 1500m she clocked in at 4m 38s which falls short of the 4m 05s required to qualify for the competition.

Following her climb to prominence after excelling in Nanjing ,Bissah has hogged the athletics spotlight in the past few months for all the wrong reasons due to her decision to turn down a scholarship to the United States to continue her development.

Within that same period she has parted ways with her long-time coach and mentor Isaac Nii Odamptey Lamptey after several disagreements.

Reports have emerged that Martha Bissah is currently contemplating a nationality switch due to her frustrations with the Athletics Association.

However, Citi Sports checks revealed that a final event has been scheduled to enable athletes who failed to qualify a second shot.

This is according to the Head of Communications of the Ghana Athletics Association Erasmus Kwaw.

“Just to put the record straight it is not only Martha Bissah who has not made our list for the All African Games and the World Championships.

“For all our athletes only two were able to make it to the World Championships.

“At the All African Games level there are even athletes ranked higher than Martha who could not qualify in their respective events.

Talk about the 800m Agnes Abu has run a personal best this year of 2m 06s which is higher than Martha’s 2m 08s and she still could not qualify so let’s not restrict this to Martha alone.

“Beatrice Gyaman has also failed to qualify for the 100m flat,” he told Citi Sports.

He emphasised that the final competition would serve as a lifeline for athletes who had recorded impressive times throughout the season.

“The GAA is still looking at options of possibly having one more competition locally to give those other athletes who have not qualified one last opportunity to qualify for the games.

“We are still talking to sponsors so when that is confirmed there could still be light at the end of the tunnel for these guys,” He confirmed to Citi Sports.

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/08/13/martha-bissah-and-others-handed-lifeline-ahead-of-all-african-games/feed/0Prof Doodu:Bissah was marked for scholarship before she won goldhttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/03/20/prof-doodubissah-was-marked-for-scholarship-before-she-won-gold/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/03/20/prof-doodubissah-was-marked-for-scholarship-before-she-won-gold/#respondFri, 20 Mar 2015 20:16:35 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=38966President of the Ghana Olympic Committee Professor Francis Doodu has revealed that discussions to award Martha Bissah a scholarship to aid her develop her talent begun way before she won Gold at the Youth Olympics in China.

The issue of Martha’s scholarship has dominated sports discussions around the country after President Mahama in his State of the nation’s address this year made mention of plans to have Bissah travel to the United States of America to continue her development.

Professor Francis Doodu speaking on Citi Fm’s Sports Panorama also clarified that the scholarship mentioned by the President was the same one offered by the Ghana Athletics Association.

“The scholarship for Martha did not originate from her performance in Nanjing i’m always talking to our athletes and before she went to Nanjing we had talked about scholarship opportunities.

“It is not a formal thing that the GAA does its nobody’s mandate to do this,GAA isn’t required to find scholarships for athletes but it so happens that there is a critical mass of people in the GAA right now who think that this is the best way that we can support our athletes in terms of helping them advance themselves beyond athletics for the future.

]]>http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/03/20/prof-doodubissah-was-marked-for-scholarship-before-she-won-gold/feed/0Martha Bissah: coach Lamptey is not devotedhttp://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/03/19/martha-bissah-coach-lamptey-is-not-devoted/
http://sport.citifmonline.com/2015/03/19/martha-bissah-coach-lamptey-is-not-devoted/#respondThu, 19 Mar 2015 13:05:45 +0000http://sport.citifmonline.com/?p=38862Martha Bissah has slammed her coach, Nii Odartey Lamptey, after he announced that he was no more interested in coaching her in an exclusive interview with Citi Sports.

According to the Ghana athlete, the coach has been speaking to the media on personal issues and she would not be drawn into the matter.

“I would not want to say anything about my coach.” she said to Citi Sports on Wednesday.

“He claims to be the coach and yet he is in Kumasi and does not want to come to Accra to coach me. The Super Zonal tournament is just about ending and he’s still in Kumasi.

“He was given transportation to come and train me in Accra and he refused.” she appended.

Bissah has courted media attention ever ever since she returned from the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China where she won gold in the 800m.

She has since moved to live with Mickey Osei Berko in Kasoa as the famous actor and radio presenter now serves as her manager.